$80K bail for DePaul student in fatal hit-run

May 02, 2009

A DePaul University student was ordered held in lieu of $80,000 bail today in connection with the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian on the Northwest Side earlier this week.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Jackie Marie Portman set the bail amount for Talia Ramos, 22 (right), who was charged Friday with leaving the scene of a fatal accident and failure to give information and render aid, according to police.

Ramos was arrested about five blocks from the crash about 10:30 p.m. Thursday at Grace Street and Cicero Avenue that killed Arturo Bracho, 57, authorities said.

A witness told police a Budget rental truck driving down Grace Street at approximately 65 m.p.h. struck Bracho as he stepped off the sidewalk into a crosswalk, Cook County Assistant State's Atty. Emily Stevens said in court. The truck carried Bracho about 100 feet before he fell from the vehicle, witnesses said.

When police located the truck and Ramos, she was "in distress" and admitted to police that she had been driving and had hit "something," Stevens said.

In addition to the felonies, Ramos, of the 2400 block of North Harding Avenue, was also cited with striking a pedestrian in the roadway, negligent driving, driving without insurance and driving without a license.

Stevens said Ramos had called her boyfriend when police arrived but had not notified police of the crash.

Ramos has one prior misdemeanor on her record, the prosecutor said.

Ramos' attorney said the woman was a DePaul student studying political science and working as an administrative assistant.

Bracho was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to a spokesman from the Cook County medical examiner's office.